Aim-listed on-line gambling venture Sportingbet.com is to buy US internet bookie SportsBook for up to £128.6 million in cash and paper, having issued £8.5 million of new shares in the process, writes James Crux.

Initially, Alderney-based Sportingbet.com (SBT) will pay £35.9 million in cash, debt and stock for the entire share capital of Internet Opportunity Entertainment and Oak Ventures, which together comprise SportsBook. Of the £35.9 million, £27.1 million will be due on completion and the rest, £8.8 million, will be payable when 'aggregate net profits for four quarters' reach £4.2 million.

On top of this, a performance related figure of up to £93.7 million is payable over seven years. House broker Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has placed 8.95 million new shares in the company with investors at 98.5p to fund the initial cash sum and transaction costs.

At the end of June, SportsBook had 347,650 customers, nearly four times as many as Sportingbet. The company was founded in the Caribbean in 1997 and provides betting services in 150 countries, with around 92 per cent of its on-line betting based in North America, where it lays odds on US-specific games such as gridiron football and baseball.

Sportingbet has also revealed its figures for the three months to 30 June. Sales rose from £39.1 million in the same period last year to £111.5 million, and were up from £107 million in the final quarter of last year, but pre-tax losses were trimmed from £2.4 million to £998,445.

Sportingbet, which came to Aim from Ofex in January with an £18 million fundraising, has been in highly acquisitive mood of late. Back in February, it snapped up Costa Rican gambling site Betmaker.com for £15 million. This deal was followed by the £35 million purchase of Australian bookmaker The Number One Betting Shop in March.

By late afternoon, Sportingbet's shares had edged ahead by 0.5p to 101.5p. The high so far in 2001 is 144p and the low 93.5p.

Sportingbet	AIM	£132.99m	28.00p	0.00p
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